Response by Shelter to George Osborne's housing benefit plans.

The homeless charity Shelter today released a report showing possible consequences of the proposed changes in housing benefit. The report shows projected increases in repossession 'hotspots' from around the UK.

Although this type of forecasting is always going to be tricky (lots of variables and the economy less than predictable) it is an interesting piece of work and should be read. The reliability of the statistics, (always look at the statistics!) commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, isn't the issue. Predicting future outcomes when factoring unemployment and mortgage rates into the mix is the hard part. That said, Shelter are one of those organisations who make me feel grateful for what I've got and willing to give a little bit of it away.

There have also been details on the BBC claiming  the majority of coalition councillors aren't happy at the proposed changes (the figures suggest about two thirds are against it), which is also fuelling calls for a U-turn.

TED Talks.

TED talks is a website showcasing video presentations by influential and inspiring speakers across a whole range of subjects. I concede that you're unlikely to find anything that you can stick in a reference list but that's not what TED (which stands for Technology, Education and Design) is about. The ideas that you'll find being presented here are a mixture of practical projects with measurable outcomes and BIG ideas to change the world.

I've come across a number of thinkers here that have lead me to view issues in a slightly, or in a few cases completely, different way.

Have an explore on the TED Website and contact me with details of any presentations that you enjoyed.

Yet another thing that myself and Lady gaga have in common...

As you're well aware certain professions come with, shall we say, baggage.

I have on occasion lied in polite conversation as to what I do for a living. This is usually because when I tell someone what I do for a living their response is something like, 'Oh it must be nice being surrounded by those lovely books'. When I point out that weeks can go by before I even stand near a book they look somewhat disappointed. So I often lie and tell people I'm a dolphin trainer instead. Unfortunately I met a marine biologist once and had to have an argument with her about the ethics of my job. My made-up job. It got complicated.

But now things have changed. I will no longer be slightly embarrassed about what I do.

Because if it's good enough for Lady Gaga, it'll do for me.

Yes, everyone's favourite barmy pop princess thinks of herself as a librarian. I'm not making this up. She said so in this interview.

So as a sign of solidarity, for all my future training sessions I'll be wearing a dress made of chopped up journals and half finished assignments. Gaga would understand.

Dad, can I try your new home-brew? Erm...

This parenting business is terribly confusing. For a treat when I was little (about the age of Thomas, my eldest now, so 9-ish) my Dad would let me have a sip of his beer at home. It wasn't a regular thing which made it more special.
I mention this because a) I make homebrew (badly) and last week I let Thomas have a sip. And he hated it, of course. Quite right too.

This coincided with the national treasure that is the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) releasing a major new report called Young People, Alcohol and Influences. Specifically, it looks at how the drinking behaviour of parents can influence their offspring. It's interesting stuff and as usual for the JRF, incredibly well researched.

Maybe I should give the younger one the same beer in the hope of putting him off all alcohol in the future too...

Kinship care.

I heard mention of a new report this morning that's been compiled by Bristol University.

It's examining how many children are looked after by family members other than their parents.

The full report is available online and is called Spotlight on Kinship Care.

The data comes from the 2001 Census which at present is the most up to date statistics available to compile this kind of report. What it almost certainly means though is that the number of households where children do not live with parents will have increased from the figures presented.

What would happen if the Web was turned off?

I've been brooding about the future again.

The Internet is now the longest continually running machine ever built. It's been going since 1991 without a break, although I suppose it's only been considered a big thing for about 10 years. So the question I'm asking is - what would happen if The Web was turned off for any reason?

I'm not trying to freak you out or anything (well, maybe a little bit) but I've been reading stuff recently about cyber-attacks, machines which only talk to other machines,   and how weird things are generally.

I'll explain what I mean. The picture opposite is of a beach in  Cornwall. Don't bother trying to find the exact location on a map because it isn't marked. This is the place where a giant undersea cable 'lands' in the UK from  the US. In the cable, which is buried beneath the surface, is at least some data from the Web which you (yes, YOU) will have accessed. The amount of data running through this cable is beyond my comprehension. Trust me, it's a lot.

If someone really wanted to take the whole Web down you'd need to attack it on many, many fronts but what's interesting is that Web experts are starting to have these conversations at all. It's set up to be what's known as a 'help healing ring' (one bit gets hurt and another bit takes over) but nobody really knows how self healing it is yet.

So my question is this - how reliant on the Web are you and how would it affect you if Google wasn't there tomorrow morning?

E-book reference collection

I bang on a lot about e-books and how they mostly do good in the world.

But there's a collection of e-books that I quite often forget to mention. We have a general e-reference collection that is quite handy for researching the basics of a topic. Think of it as a reliable version of Wikipedia (although you do miss out on the fun of watching angry contributors slag each other off!) and that just about sums it up.

Anyhow. It's called Credo and it's pretty good if you're looking for definitions of ideas, theories or theorists within the social sciences sphere.

Things Evan says: Number 1 in on ongoing series...

Evan: Daa-add, what was it like being a little boy in a world where there was no computers...

Me: {sigh}.

Evan:...or games...

Me: {sigh}.

Evan:...or electricity?


Unbelievable.

Letting Children Be Children

The tabloids and broadsheets alike are currently full of stories involving 8 year-old girls wanting to mimic Rihanna. My first and entirely selfish reaction to this whole debate is I'm glad I've got sons! That aside, there's some new reports I'd like to share.

The first thing is a piece of work written by Reg Bailey of the Mothers' Union. You can find the full report on the Dept of Education website. It's an interesting read and I'm not the slightest bit surprised that the media have highlighted it.

This Youtube clips sets the scene for the report.

Poor kids on TV.

I've got some catching up to do as I was away for a nice week with the family in Suffolk. Hence no postings for a while. I'll put that right this week.

Had such a nice time whilst away, so reading this article in the Guardian on Saturday was even harder than it would've been otherwise.

I find it hard to deal with this stuff at the best of times but I'll try and watch the TV programme tomorrow (the 7th) on BBC1 at 10:35.